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Andan
The Andan are one of the six factions governing the hexarchate in the Machineries of Empire universe. Notable Andan include Heptarch Andan Shandal Yeng, Agent Andan Tseya, Governor Andan Viendris, Andan Niath, and Andan Irimi. Role The Andan are a high faction; their corresponding low faction is the Vidona.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2 They dominate and dictate hexarchate culture and finance, and are in charge of first contacts, diplomacy, and other interactions with foreign powers. They often intermarry in order to concentrate wealth in carefully chosen families. They appreciate the blunt utility of the Vidona as a counterpoint to their subtler methods of control, and consider the Nirai easily manipulated, the Rahal too rigid to adapt to necessary circumstances, and the Kel "a hammer in search of a nail" but useful nonetheless. They have an intense hatred for the Shuos due to faction history and overlapping spheres of interest, and attempt to either outmaneuver or outspend them.The Factions: High Faction Andan Meanwhile, the Rahal find them too open and flexible in their regard for other cultures, though a necessary buffer between the hexarchate and heretical regimes; the Nirai are only interested in their ability to fund research endeavors; the Vidona take umbrage at their intolerable and borderline disloyal feud with the Shuos; the Kel despise them as too culturally flexible and friendly with heretical foreign powers; and the Shuos passionately hate them for their wealth, positive perception of the rest of the hexarchate, and overlapping areas of competition.Author's website Diplomacy According to Shuos Emio, even the Andan know that there are no shortcuts to a stable regime.Revenant Gun, Chapter 8 The Andan also provide protocol training within and outside their faction, and Andan-trained protocol advisers such as Oya Fiamonor are highly valued.Revenant Gun, Chapter 12 Government The center of Andan government is the City of Inverted Gardens.The Factions: High Faction Andan Their emblem is the kniferose,Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2 and their colors are blue and silver.The Factions: High Faction Andan The most recent Andan hexarch was Andan Shandal Yeng. Technology Individual Andan are able to hypnotize and mentally dominate people of lower social status, binding them to the Andan's will. The ability, known as enthrallment, depends on physical proximity and diminishes with repeated use against a specific target,Author's website; The Factions: High Faction Andan but uncontrolled enthrallment can destroy the subject's brain; Andan operatives without full control of their abilities are therefore kept isolated from lower-ranked individuals.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 18 When activating enthrallment, the Andan's eyes turn dark rose-blue.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 14 The effectiveness of enthrallment as a threat causes faction members to go to great lengths to gain greater social status.The Factions: High Faction Andan The Shuos, however, are said to train some of their operatives to resist enthrallment.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 3 The Andan also have a version of the Shuos shouter which operates over a wider range of calendrical values and is kept in the Andan Archives.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3 Recruitment Prospective Andan are expected to possess some combination of beauty, wealth, and culturally significant creativity. Ties to Andan families are also valued;The Factions: High Faction Andan the Kel feeling against nepotism is associated with their antipathy toward the Andan, who frequently practice it.Revenant Gun, Chapter 5 The Andan academies stress deportment, wealth-building, and the arts. Like the Shuos, they notoriously have an Introduction to Seduction class; Andan-trained courtesans are widely regarded as superior to the Shuos-trained version.The Factions: High Faction Andan Hexarch Nirai Kujen once claimed that either Shuos cadets or Andan cadets before the faction split were once required to speak in code throughout an entire semester.Revenant Gun, Chapter 6 History The Andan and Shuos started out as a single faction which sundered before the birth of Hexarch Nirai Kujen, so long ago that not even he knows which came first.Open Thread: Revenant Gun According to Andan records, the younger twin of Andan Estrekor saved the heptarchate from one of Estrekor's treacherous plots and forced her out of the Andan to found the Shuos. The Shuos claim that Estrekor was a Shuos, betrayed by her younger twin who left to found the Andan. Much of the two factions' mutual hatred dates from the time of the split.Author's website; [http://www.solarisbooks.com/post/2005 The Factions: Low Faction Shuos A centuries-long campaign to stamp out corpse calligraphy in the hexarchate stemmed partly from the regime's embarrassment after one of the most successful, long-lived Andan hexarchs became a corpse calligrapher.Revenant Gun, Chapter 8 Petty squabbles with the Andan were partially responsible for weakening the Shuos before the hexarch's seat fell to Shuos Mikodez.Revenant Gun, Chapter 2 Records of an Andan diplomatic mission among the Hafn two years before the Hafn invaded the hexarchate revealed frustratingly few clues to the heretic regime's motivations.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 5 An archive in the Hall of Stochastic Longings on the Fortress of Scattered Needles houses Andan records going back 500 years.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 17 The Andan in both the Compact and Protectorate retained their positions as brokers of the two realms' culture and wealth after the broadcast of the revised calendar, despite the loss of enthrallment as a weapon in the Compact. One of High General Kel Brezan's first concerns was to obtain Andan help in stabilizing the Compact's markets.Revenant Gun, Chapter 2 Nine years later, the Andan, along with the Vidona, had the most difficulty with the Protectorate's decision to adopt the Compact's calendar, leading to a great deal of Andan infighting.Revenant Gun, Chapter 12 Culture The Andan pride themselves on dominance of hexarchate’s culture, but disdain the art of paper-folding, which is specific to the Vidona.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 2 However, most of the hexarchate's entertainment, including popular dramas, are Andan-made.The Factions: High Faction Andan The most properly-inclined Andan dress in variations on blue-and-silver.Revenant Gun, Chapter 8 Along with the Rahal, the Andan still use some formality levels in their speech, such as the -zho honorific, which are considered archaic among other factions.Revenant Gun, Chapter 36 Despite the delicacy of Andan hospitality, there are almost as many jokes about prepackaged Andan meals as there are about Kel ration bars.Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon Andan jokes * The Shuos joked that cadets who failed to hack their commandant's surveillance system during their first year were only fit for the Andan.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22 * Andan Tseya described Shuos Jedao as "a Shuos, which means he's like an Andan, except with worse public relations."Raven Stratagem, Chapter 14 * Shuos Jedao knew an astounding number of filthy Andan jokes.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 2 Trivia * Protector-General Kel Inesser's lineage included some of the great Andan families.Revenant Gun, Chapter 5 * Planetary governors are usually Andan, and less usually Rahal. Governor Nirai Lozhoi was an exception.Revenant Gun, Chapter 5 * The heroine of A Rose in Three Revolutions was an Andan.Revenant Gun, Chapter 3 * Andan rose liqueur, a drink known in the heptarchate,Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 23 may be related to wine-of-roses. Links * The Factions: High Faction Andan References Category:Categorize Category:Andan